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The asset seizure part needs no explanation as that was common practice for many law enforcement agencies, but if your brother was not dealing heroin why did he plea to dealing heroin?

There is no way they'd get a conviction solely on the basis of someone carrying a large amount of cash. They'd have needed something more than that to even reach the preliminary hearing stage.

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UncleMeat 8 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Tons of innocent people take plea deals.

Courts can and do get convictions based on bullshit. "The cop says you did it" convinces loads of juries. There's also often further incentive to take a deal if you are stuck in jail or are otherwise spending shitloads of time and money on a defense.

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fatbird 9 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

98% of criminal charges end in plea deals. The justice system only works because virtually all charges go through without a trial. Prosecutors are strongly incentivized to find an acceptable plea deal, and they have the threat of massively ruining someone's life who refuses a deal--if nothing else, the 6-7 figure cost of defending oneself in court is incentive enough to take a plea.

	▲	pseingatl 9 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		A long time ago, in a nearby galaxy, Broward Detective Vicki Cutcliffe grabbed my client's crotch in the Ft. Lauderdale airport, hoping to find crack, which she did. Judge Roettger was a frequent user of the airport and found this behavior unacceptable. He suppressed the evidence. One of the 2%, I guess.
	▲	gamblor956 8 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		98% of criminal defendants are actually guilty, and are just seeking the best deal possible. Prosecutors are strongly disincentivized to prosecute cases without evidence because they get demoted or fired if their win ratio (including pleas) drops below 90%. Public defenders don't advise their clients to take pleas in the absence of any evidence tying them to the crime, as claimed in the OP. if nothing else, the 6-7 figure cost of defending oneself in court is incentive enough to take a plea. This is false, unless you're convicted of murder and you choose the most expensive lawyers, and you proceed to trial, meaning that there was sufficient actual evidence of guilt that a prosecutor would risk their record and that a judge would commit the time and resources of his court to have a trial. Pre-trial costs for non-violent felonies are in the 4-low 5 figures. Violent felonies top out in the mid-5 figures. You don't see 6 figure costs outside of murder cases, and 7 figure costs all involve extremely wealthy defendants. The financial cost of pleading guilty is 10x-100x the cost of defending oneself in court. If, as the OP claimed, his cousin was innocent, no defense attorney (public defender or otherwise) would have recommended he plead guilty, because based on what the OP said, there was insufficient evidence for the case to even make it to the preliminary hearing. In many states, the law enforcement agency at issue would have also paid his attorneys' fees.

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zoklet-enjoyer 10 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

He plead to attempted money laundering or something like that

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tptacek 9 hours ago | parent | next [-]

What state was this in? We can look up the predicates for that charge in the state, and then be talking more coherently about what might have happened here. Thanks!

I'm guessing North Dakota? That's 3 states away from Chicago on the only Amtrak route from there to Portland.

Were the charges federal? Did North Dakota (or whatever) police intercept him, or a DEA TFG?

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perihelions 9 hours ago | parent [-]

What exactly are you trying to accomplish here? We can all see that person's HN comment history, see that fully half of it is drugs; and if this HN subthread is quiet about it, that is because we are politely avoiding confrontation.

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tptacek 9 hours ago | parent [-]

I have not looked at their comment history, and the guidelines ask us not to do that.

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zoklet-enjoyer 8 hours ago | parent [-]

You can read my comment history. It's right out in the open. Why would guidelines say not to look at it when it's right on the profile? Lol

He got on the train in ND. A drug task force illegally searched his bags and arrested him in Portland. I believe it was all state charges from a state agency working with the DEA. I'd have to ask because I don't remember the details. This was like a decade ago

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tptacek 7 hours ago | parent [-]

We're not supposed to dredge things up from people's comment histories to throw at them in discussions.

	▲	mikeyouse an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		FWIW, this seems like the arrest/seizure - doesn't mention heroin and honestly seems pretty sketchy. Aside from a prior arrest for selling weed, using a BS 'hit' from a dog is pretty thin pretext to search the cans. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3100482-9-1-16-PPB-M... Oregon's money laundering statute is here: https://oregon.public.law/statutes/ors_164.170
	▲	zoklet-enjoyer 6 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Ok well I give you and anyone else permission to do that in my case

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gamblor956 8 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

If your cousin was actually innocent he should sue his lawyer for malpractice.

The facts as you state them don't support any criminal charges, and any competent lawyer would be immediately aware of that and recommend against pleading.